U.N. Event Highlights Persecution in China, New Threats and Impersonations Target Falun Gong and U.S. Military Parade

Dear Reader,

At a side event during the 59th session of the United Nations Human Rights Council in Geneva on June 16, survivors, medical experts, and human rights advocates spotlighted the Chinese Communist Party’s (CCP) ongoing persecution of Falun Gong practitioners and other religious groups. Hosted by two Europe-based NGOs, the event presented firsthand testimonies and detailed investigations exposing a decades-long campaign of torture, forced indoctrination, and state-sanctioned organ harvesting. Ms. Yumei Liu, a survivor from Liaoning Province, recounted her harrowing experiences during her nine detentions of brutal torture, and threats of organ harvesting—echoing the fate of her sister, who died due to the persecution.

Dr. Andreas Weber of Doctors Against Forced Organ Harvesting (DAFOH) cited extensive research, including a 2019 China Tribunal report, showing that Falun Gong practitioners are the primary victims of China’s illicit transplant industry. The panel called out the U.N. Human Rights Council for its longstanding silence and urged immediate, independent investigations. Advocates warned of the CCP’s expanding global repression and called for coordinated international action.

Also in this issue:

• A 76-year-old Falun Gong practitioner was jailed for a third time in Shandong Province for his faith.
  

• New death threats, impersonations, and attempted vehicle tampering target Falun Gong, whistleblowers, and U.S. institutions from late May to mid-June.

• Investigative report focuses on the development model of the CCP’s ”industrial chain of forced organ harvesting” along the One Belt, One Road Initiative.

To wrap up, we’re sharing the video of Rebel News journalist interviewing Falun Gong practitioners who were bringing attention to the persecution they face at the G7 summit in Alberta on June 19.

FEATURE STORY

”Freedom of Religion and Belief in China”, side event during the 59th session of the United Nations Human Rights Council on June 16 (NTDTV.com/Edited by Faluninfo)

What’s new? 

At a side event during the 59th session of the United Nations Human Rights Council in Geneva on June 16, survivors and experts spotlighted the Chinese Communist Party’s (CCP) persecution of Falun Gong and other religious communities. Hosted at the Palais des Nations by Citoyen en action pour la démocratie et le développement (CADD) and Global Human Rights Defence (GHRD), two Europe-based NGOs, the event titled “Freedom of Religion and Belief in China” presented detailed evidence of torture, indoctrination, and forced organ harvesting.

Falun Gong practitioner and survivor Ms. Yumei Liu shared her story of enduring nine imprisonments and over 40 forms of torture in China between 1999 and 2005. She recounted being threatened with live organ harvesting, and losing her sister, husband, and home to the persecution. Now living in Finland, she continues to experience transnational harassment.

Medical expert Dr. Andreas Weber, deputy director of Doctors Against Forced Organ Harvesting, cited years of investigative evidence—including undercover recordings and tribunal reports—linking China’s transplant boom directly to Falun Gong prisoners of conscience. “This is not just a human rights violation,” he said, “It’s a slow-moving genocide.”

Why does it matter? 

China holds a lot of sway at the United Nations and goes to great lengths to prevent these kinds of discussions about Falun Gong and rights violations in China from occurring. The simple fact that the side event was able to take place is thus notable. Still, Dr. Weber questioned why the U.N. Human Rights Council has remained silent on the issue, a stance that starkly contradicts its core mission.

“Twenty-five years of torture, brainwashing, and forced organ harvesting is more than a human rights abuse—it has taken on the signs of a ‘cold genocide’,” Mr. Weber warned. “The mission of the United Nations Human Rights Council is to promote and protect human rights worldwide. Why does the council seem to forget about its mission when it touches on the border of the People’s Republic of China in these cases?”

What else do you need to know?

Speakers emphasized that the CCP’s human rights abuses go beyond China’s borders, with surveillance, intimidation, and disinformation campaigns targeting dissidents abroad. Mr. ManYan Ng, a board member of the International Society for Human Rights, described how the CCP infiltrates Western media and uses tech platforms to suppress criticism. The event highlighted growing bipartisan support in the U.S. for measures like the Falun Gong Protection Act and urged European governments to act similarly.

PERSECUTION IN CHINA

Mr. Yi Xiangyang (also known as Yin Xiangyang), a 76-year-old farmer from Liujia Village in Longkou City, Shandong Province, was admitted to Shandong Province Prison on June 11, 2025, according to Minghui.org and Weiquanwang, a website which aggregates reports of abuse from human rights defenders across China. He is now serving a five-and-a-half-year sentence for telling people about the CCP’s persecution of Falun Gong—a spiritual practice that has been brutally suppressed in China since 1999.

Mr. Yi was arrested on the morning of March 5 for discussing Falun Gong with local residents and was sentenced three months later. This is not the first time he has been targeted for his beliefs; over the past two decades, he has been arrested at least 18 times and previously served two separate five-year prison terms—from October 2004 to October 2009, and from August 2014 to August 2019.

TRANSNATIONAL REPRESSION

Between May 29 and June 17, multiple anonymous messages containing violent threats were sent to the Falun Dafa Information Center (FDIC) via its online contact forms. Written in Chinese and often using false identities—including impersonating Falun Gong practitioners, Falun Gong’s founder, and a Chinese defector—the messages targeted major U.S. institutions, including the White House, Shen Yun’s training campus in New York, and a military parade in Washington, D.C.

For example, on June 14, a message was received whose sender posed as Falun Gong’s founder and used the email address of an Epoch Times editor. The message threatened a mass shooting and bombing at a D.C. military parade by individuals disguised as Falun Gong practitioners, stating, “We will pretend to be Falun Gong disciples tomorrow, wearing your clothes, and after the military parade starts tomorrow, we will shoot and kill everyone in Washington, D.C., and throw bombs! Throw Molotov cocktails!”

The incidents were reported to law enforcement and no actual violence occurred. Nevertheless, these cases serve to intimidate and attempt to discredit Falun Gong. They bring the total of anonymous threats targeting or impersonating Falun Gong since March 2024 to 154.

Separately, a case of physical intimidation also occurred. On June 17, Cheng Peiming, the only known survivor of CCP-organ harvesting, reported a suspicious man attempting to approach his vehicle when parked at home; the man was ultimately deterred by the home security system. This was the second suspicious incident at Cheng’s home in New York following a break-in in November.

INDEPENDENT DOCUMENTATION

On May 10, the World Organization to Investigate the Persecution of Falun Gong (WOIPFG), a U.S.-based NGO dedicated to exposing the crimes involved in the persecution of Falun Gong, released a new investigative report highlighting the deep links between the CCP industrialized organ transplant system and the “One Belt, One Road” (OBOR) initiative.

A key focus of the report is the CCP-led “One Belt, One Road” International Organ Transplantation Cooperation and Development Alliance, which it describes as a strategically crafted global network designed to internationalize China’s controversial transplant practices. Launched in 2016, the initiative integrates organ transplant cooperation into the OBOR framework through high-level conferences, policy alignment, and international partnerships. Despite growing global concern over China’s state-sanctioned forced organ harvesting—especially targeting Falun Gong practitioners—the alliance has received support from international medical organizations, unintentionally lending legitimacy to these practices.

The report traces seven successive international conferences from 2016 to 2023, showing a shift from initial diplomacy to full-scale infrastructure development. The alliance follows a top-down structure, with directives from senior CCP officials and national agencies such as the National Health Commission and the Chinese Red Cross. It operates through regional transplant hubs, centralized planning bodies, and international collaborations, including training programs and shared databases. WOIPFG warns that this system facilitates the global export of forced organ harvesting under the pretext of medical cooperation.

In this report published in May 2023, the Falun Dafa Information Center examined the presence of Falun Gong practitioners and clubs on dozens of university campuses across the United States, and the various ways in which the CCP’s persecution of Falun Gong impacts campus events, student experiences, and textbooks used in Chinese-language courses.

One key finding in the report is that at least 45 university campuses have students or faculty who practice Falun Gong. One-fifth of respondents to a 2023 survey reported feeling uncomfortable self-identifying as a Falun Gong practitioner due to CCP propaganda or other influences. Nearly one-quarter of respondents had experienced physical or digital surveillance, and multiple incidents of attempted censorship related to events about Falun Gong or China were recorded. The report offers recommendations to university administrators, faculty, and government policymakers on how to enhance protections for freedom of speech and belief.

On June 19, at the Group of 7 (G7) summit in Kananaskis, Alberta, Falun Gong practitioners held a peaceful protest to raise awareness about the CCP’s ongoing persecution of their group. Speaking to Rebel News, organizers from the Falun Gong Association of Calgary urged G7 leaders to help stop the CCP’s human rights abuses.

“We want to show people, especially G7 leaders, some messages to ask them to help us to stop the persecution of Falun Gong in China and overseas here,” a practitioner said. “And also, to stop the organ harvesting from Falun Gong practitioners and the Chinese people. This is our purpose for coming here.”